England face Harmison D-Day

The 28-year-old Durham fast bowler was diagnosed with the condition during the final Test victory over West Indies at Chester-le-Street nearly a month ago and initial tests suggested Harmison would be able to battle through until the end of the forthcoming npower series against India.

But he suffered a recurrence of the injury on Friday and bowled only five overs of the current LV County Championship match against Sussex at Hove and England will want a full report on his fitness before naming their squad for the opening Test at Lord's on Sunday.

Durham coach Geoff Cook said: "Steve has aggravated the injury and is pretty sore. We will see how it is in the morning. England have been informed.

"He has been bowling brilliantly for Durham, as he proved in our last championship match against Surrey (when he claimed seven wickets) and these things can flare up. There is no reason to suggest at the moment that surgery will need to be brought forward but all we can say is that we have to see how he is in the morning."

If there is any doubt over Harmison's fitness, England are expected to be cautious in their selection, particularly if they continue with their policy of fielding three mainline seamers alongside left-arm spinner Monty Panesar.

It may prompt England to name a 12-man squad, with Lancashire seamer Jimmy Anderson, who is yet to feature in a Test this summer, expected to be added to the line-up who completed a 3-0 series win in their last Test outing.

While there are clear concerns over Harmison, who bounced back strongly by claiming 10 wickets in the final two Tests after an uncertain start to the summer, England will otherwise have very few selection dilemmas for Thursday's opener.

The only slight concern is opener Andrew Strauss, who hit 77 in the first innings at Chester-le-Street but has otherwise struggled for form in all forms of cricket this season. The Riverside knock was only his second half-century in his last 17 Test innings and Strauss has had little first-class match practice to hone his technique since.

His only cricket in the last month has consisted of successive ducks in the two Twenty20 matches he has played for Middlesex while, ominously, he lasted only 17 balls against India as captain of England Lions at Chelmsford on Friday before falling for just one.